Teacherplus2016-12-02T09:54:15Zhttp://www.teacherplus.org/feed/atomWordPressshalinihttp://www.teacherplus.org/http://www.teacherplus.org/?p=194112016-12-02T09:54:15Z2016-12-02T09:37:29ZChintan Girish Modi
Teacher Plus profiles Islamabad based artist, filmmaker, and educator Fouzia Minallah who aims to inspire in children a love of art that thrives in their surroundings and their traditions, not just in books, art galleries, and the Internet.
]]>Chintan Girish Modi

Fauzia Minallah is a Pakistani artist, filmmaker, author, educator, disability rights activist, all rolled into one, and more, which is why it is futile to look for a one-word descriptor that can neatly sum up this resident of Islamabad. The first time I met her was in October 2013, at the Children’s Literature Festival in Lahore, organized by Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi and Oxford University Press Pakistan. And I have been following her work ever since because it speaks directly to concerns around diversity, conflict, and violence.

In her book Chitarkari and Banyans: The Pursuit of Identity, Minallah has written movingly about her childhood memories of Sirikot in Pakistan, of playing in the cemeteries among slate tombs bearing floral and geometric designs. Much of her artistic and pedagogic practice draws inspiration from that early immersion in her cultural heritage, though her formal training happened at the Pratt Institute in New York.

One of her most well-known books is Sadako’s Prayer, which is based on the real life story of a Japanese girl named Sadako who was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb, and ultimately died of cancer. She has also facilitated art workshops with internally displaced people from the Swat Valley in Pakistan when “they needed help to exorcise their fear of both the Taliban and of army shelling.”

Minallah is now planning a picture book for children on the life of Abdul Sattar Edhi, a humanitarian who ran orphanages, hospitals, homeless shelters, and rehabilitation centres all across Pakistan, and led a life of simplicity, refusing to discriminate between people on the basis of religion while extending support services.

We bring you, in her own words, Minallah’s efforts to inspire in children a love of art that thrives in their surroundings and their traditions, not just in books, art galleries, and the Internet.

Taking children on adventuresA number of activists and researchers in Pakistan, like A.H. Nayyar and Rubina Saigol and many others have campaigned for the reform of curriculum for Pakistani children. Sadly, like many other countries, in Pakistan too, children are given an exclusionary worldview in the name of nationalism. In this globalized world, we need to educate children to be better citizens of the world. My contribution as an author and illustrator for children’s books is to work on subjects not easily available to children. I believe that if children respect the rich heritage of Pakistan, it would cultivate diversity and multiculturalism. I created a cartoon character ‘Amai the bird of light’ as a vehicle through which I tell them about the beauty of this world. She is a tiny bird made of light that turns into a shooting star, and takes children on exciting adventures.

Finding beauty in diversity
It is not very popular now but, when I was a kid, I used to love playing with paper dolls. My book Bano, Billoo, and Amai grew from that experience. In this book, through traditional dresses in different provinces of Pakistan, children learn that there are Hindus in Tharparkar or a tribe in Kalash that practices an ancient religion. In Amai and the Banyan Tree, Amai introduces the two main characters of my book Seema and Ali to a banyan tree, ‘Ma banyan’. This book is not only about the environment but came out of great sadness that I experienced when a very old banyan tree called ‘Buddha tree’ in Islamabad was burnt down by some seminarians. In fact I saw a Japanese children’s book writer Tajima Shinji cry when I took him to the site, and he couldn’t believe why someone would destroy something so beautiful. Ever since then the banyan has not only become an inspiration for my art but have tried to save some in Islamabad. It was all the more important for me to write about the beauty of these magnificent trees for children. It is a beautiful symbol of peace. In a number of religions, some trees are more sacred than others, but when I sit under a tree, it has never asked me about my religion. It has given me shade whenever I needed it.

Learning from the past
Our sub-continent was a place on earth where different religions co-existed for centuries. Of course, it was not a haven of peace, but I think in this volatile world there are many lessons in co-existence one can learn from our past. The partition is a colossal tragedy that should never be repeated but there are many more stories of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs living in the same communities without conflict. I will give you an example of not only the visits to our ancestral village Sirikot that exposed me to the beautiful craft of Chitarkari but the stories of my mother’s childhood where she would play with Hindu girls, had Hindu neighbours, and they participated in each other’s festivities. That area was not affected with the madness of Partition. On the contrary, when they heard the news of widespread religious violence, the Muslim neighbours protected the Hindus and made sure they crossed the border safely. This is the ‘respect for our roots’ we grew up with. These stories of co-existence and multiculturalism have become all the more important today.

Appreciation for traditional crafts
South Asia has a rich past. Every temple and mosque is decorated with stunning craftsmanship. Children need to respect their roots and heritage. For example, we had traditional potters in a village called Saidpur, which is in Islamabad. I organized a number of school trips to the village where the children interacted with the potters. Every city, town, and village in South Asia has traditional craftspeople. We need to promote their work, and school visits should be organized where children are exposed to the beauty of their craft as a part of their art activities. Their own creative expression will benefit from this exposure.

Sadly, with industrialization, many traditional crafts are dying out. If we start using them in our homes, and promote them at every level, I feel they will be alive in future too. Art education in our part of the world is very ‘Westernized’. It needs to have a local flavour too. While it is important for children to know Western painters, it is also important that they are exposed to their own artistic heritage.

Building inclusive play spaces
When I planned Amai’s Park in a school for visually impaired children, I was told by many people, even the teachers, that blind children don’t need parks. Thank God, the director of the government institution that I was working with was absolutely supportive. When the project was completed, it was a joy to watch the children go up the monkey bars or slide down the slides. Of course, we made sure that all the slides and swings were customized with special barriers with bells so that they don’t fall from the slides. But sadly, like many government institutions, the maintenance is much to be desired. It has been almost 11 years since the park was created, and the kids love using it.

Dialogue across ideological lines
‘Young People for a Peaceful and Tolerant Society’ is a peace activist’s dream project. It was also a significant educational opportunity for me. Pakistani society is greatly segregated along class and ideological lines. There is a growing need for greater opportunities of dialogue between different segments of society. This project gave young people an opportunity to express themselves. The project involved students from diverse backgrounds and social strata, even from madrassahs, to work on art based projects (calligraphy and painting) that offered them a platform to share their ideas and vision.

Facilitated by the Centre for Civic Education Pakistan, this project was organized in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi, Quetta, and Mirpur. Renowned artists like Ustad Khurshid Alam, Gauhar Qalam, Ghulam Rasul, Rahat Saeed, Ghalib Baqir, Tayyaba Aziz, Ghulam Shabbier, Kaleem Khan, Usman Ghauri and many were mentors. Since we had some madrassah students too, we had the option of calligraphy. Most of the students had limited exposure while some were painting for the first time. The aim of these workshops was more about expression of ideas, thoughts, and feelings. For example, the second prize was awarded to 15 year old Syed Mudassar of Idara Taalimi Islami, for the beautiful message conveyed in his painting, and also considering that coming from a madrassah he opted for painting rather than calligraphy. Obtaining great pieces of art was not the main aim of this workshop but rather ensuring that the process was a sensitive human interaction with students, some of whom have never painted in their lives before. But the most valuable experience was that young people who would typically not interact with each other were able to, despite coming from very diverse backgrounds.

The author conducts creative writing, peace education and gender sensitization workshops with students and teachers. He consults with UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. He can be reached at chintangirishmodi@gmail.com.

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193162016-12-01T08:51:03Z2016-12-01T08:51:03ZThis issue of Teacher Plus brings those crayons, paints, and various other tangible and intangible tools of art-making out of the closet for closer examination. What do these tools and the process they embody do to and for us? What, indeed, is the place – or utility – of Art (with a capital A) in our schools, or indeed, in education as a whole? We may all agree that Art is an intrinsic part of human development, and this belief is written into education policy in different ways, but how is this to be implemented in schools, particularly with the current emphasis on learning that is instrumental and job-oriented, with the focus being on the acquisition of specific skills that can make one a good “human resource”?

The essays in this issue all are in agreement with the idea that Art has a role to play. There is some variation in how this role is to play out within the school space, and this diversity in views is to be welcomed. While some contributors have emphasized the ways in which Art becomes a path to understanding other subjects, or how it develops certain sensibilities that can serve the broader aims of education, one or two have taken a slightly different track, asking us to instead reject the instrumental view and accept Art simply for what it is – and simply because it is that which it is.

To make the case for Art we often have to resort to the instrumentalist argument, and perhaps it is also a way to retain a space for the arts in the increasingly busy school curriculum. But for teachers of art there is always this negotiation between its instrumental value and its intrinsic value. How do we talk about the joy of taking a walk and justify the time we spend wandering without linking it to some outcome, such as the health or psychological benefit of exercise? How do we sell the simple joys of colouring or painting without linking it to a calming meditative practice? How do we make space for children to run around in wild abandon, playing with drama and dance, and getting comfortable in their skins and bodies without always linking it to the importance of developing mind-body coordination?

Teachers of art in all its forms know that for them, the argument is superfluous; that Art is important because it is Art. But as long as justification is required, then I suppose one must also have the words ready for that justification – and there’s no doubt that Art does also serve a variety of extrinsic purposes, as our contributors very eloquently have pointed out.

So here’s to celebrating the arts, in all their variety, simply because they exist!

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193232016-12-01T08:49:04Z2016-12-01T08:49:04ZSasha Braganza
Why are the arts so important in school you ask? Because they are the best means of helping children open up and express themselves, thereby giving teachers a true understanding of their students. Teachers can then make use of this knowledge in the way they teach their students.]]>Sasha Braganza

Regardless of age, each of us holds within us the essence of our inner child, that sensitive, genuine, loving, and creative part of our self that tries to surface every now and then in our interactions with the outside world. While this inner child is present fully during early childhood, eventually we ‘grow up’ ignoring its many needs as we cope with the demands of the society in which we live.

Growing up we were always told to “not act like a child” or “be mature” causing us to suppress the part of ourselves that is spontaneous, childlike, and pure enough to feel every emotion, positive or negative.

This aspect within us has all the positive qualities of a child – joy, innocence, wonder, playfulness, and creativity but just like a child it can be easily wounded when rejected, suppressed or hurt by the words or actions of others. Almost every adult at some point has lost touch with this child within and we continue to live our lives with a ‘wounded child’ aspect of our personality, rarely realizing that it continues to influence our lives subconsciously. For instance, harsh words from another can cause us to have one of two reactions – withdraw into a shell or lash out with an even harsher comment. The person’s reaction can be traced back to how he reacted to such a situation as a child. This ‘child’ thus continues influencing almost all our interactions even in adulthood.

As adults who are conscious of this inner-child, great responsibility lies upon teachers, some of the most influential adults in the lives of their students. The first step would be for teachers themselves to get in touch with their own inner-child for healing and expression to be able to see this aspect in their students. Understanding children from this perspective would answer many questions teachers may have regarding their students.

Children today are constantly told to be responsible, successful, hard-working, achievement oriented, and grown up. They forget how to be children and slowly begin to lose touch with their inner selves. This is where the use of art in schools comes in. As a tool to help children be children and express that part of themselves that brings them most joy as they rediscover their hidden talents and abilities. Teachers who recognize this aspect in their students tend to naturally understand student behaviour and relate to each student individually rather than as a collective.

Art for expression versus art class
In the school I went to as a child, apart from ‘art class’, where we received approval or disapproval for our work, we didn’t have a period set aside for mere creative expression. Unable to live up to the expectations of an art class I spent my childhood considering myself to have minimal talent and didn’t bother exploring that part of myself. It was only in adulthood when I began to use art as a therapeutic tool for working with children and adults with special needs that I realized how easily it helped me connect with the child within and released the mental block I had about art. It was an effective method of bringing me back in touch with my innate creative nature that had lain dormant all those years. Since art made such an impact on me as a teacher I began to feel connected to the process and grateful to be able to facilitate similar experiences for the individuals I worked with.

Published research over the years has consistently emphasized the benefits of using art in education. Commonly researched benefits include improved academic performance, fewer disciplinary infractions, and increased levels of satisfaction among students. When children and adults are guided to express themselves freely through the arts they discover a part of themselves they may have ignored over the years. They start to develop an increased sense of self worth as they see themselves as unique creative beings capable of much more than what society expects of them. Creativity and imagination permeate into ways in which they learn. Coordination and the ability to concentrate is honed as creating can be a meditative process. There is an overall increase in awareness of self and one’s surroundings, i.e., the inherent beauty in all things.

Children are able to access freely all the positive qualities that lie within, like enthusiasm, spontaneity, and joy. More importantly, they start to use art as a therapeutic tool to express that which cannot be expressed with words. This in turn helps them deal with their own emotions through expression in a healthy manner, taking responsibility for their own emotional well-being.

Letting children be children (even if they aren’t)
All art forms such as visual art, dance and movement, theatre, storytelling, and music can be used to express the ‘inner child’. Depending on the need, specific art forms bring therapeutic value to specific children. Whatever the area of weakness in an individual, it tends to stem from how the individual developed it in early childhood. Art helps people resolve that aspect of themselves.

For instance, a child with a negative perception about his body can gain confidence in himself through dance and movement while a soft spoken child who has trouble voicing his opinion can benefit from theatre and role plays. Both these weaknesses can be traced back to instances in childhood where perhaps the shy child was ridiculed for how he looked and the quiet child was not listened to when he spoke.

Some children are more drawn to particular art forms depending on their interests. However, all art forms when facilitated correctly have the ability to bring an individual in contact with their inner-child. Though some of these may be resource heavy for a classroom setting, the use of visual art is not only feasible but also a very effective method of expression. The sensory and experiential nature of working with media like crayons, paint, pastels, etc., is itself conducive to therapeutic expression as it involves working with colours, textures, and one’s own hands.

The environment created for such art sessions in the classroom must be a safe and non judgmental one. We all remember that one adult or teacher whose disapproval about the way we painted, sang, danced, or acted, affected us in a way that caused us to dislike or shun that particular form of expression. The beauty of the arts however is that there is no right or wrong, there is only an expression of who we are and what our inner worlds look like.

Activity: spontaneous art using crayons

Remember that using art for expression is different from ‘art class’ where artistic technique is not important.

Provide as few instructions as possible. Try to avoid asking or answering questions.Step 1: Start with a few ground rules before the art session. E.g.: no judgment or comments on each other’s work, maintain silence, etc. The class can come up with more and write them on the board.Step 2: Ask the children to have their own set of crayons. Explain that this is a fun activity and their work will not be judged or shared with others. Write on the board or say out loud a simple sentence such as “How do I feel today”, “What do I want my teacher to know?”, “When am I the happiest”, and “What would I want my future to look like”. A simple statement that triggers the inner child to express.Step 3: Ask them to use their non-dominant hand (left for right handers) and pick the colours that they feel most drawn to. Specify that they must not think and must just colour as they like.Step 4: Allow time for expression, you will know when they are done.Step 5: To close, ask the children to give their drawing a name using a single random word if they like. For example, ‘sleep’, ‘blue’. Ask them to share only if they want to.

As a facilitator walk around and try to gauge some aspect of their inner child by observing their work. Provide acceptance of their work, not approval.

One can improvise the above activity using different media and themes.

We are living in an age of education where academics trump imagination and expression. With the pressure on teachers to complete the syllabus and on children to perform, the student’s innate abilities have taken a back seat. It is time for teachers to start perceiving their students not only as little goal oriented achievers but also as young individuals with dynamic stories and complex emotions that need expression. The arts are a non-intrusive method of getting a glimpse into their worlds and connecting with them on a level that allows us to understand student behaviour from another perspective.

The author is an arts-based therapy practitioner, inner-child healing facilitator, and counsellor. Using art as a therapeutic tool for working with children and adults with special needs she soon experienced how it brought her in touch with her innate creative nature. She can be reached at sashangela@gmail.com.

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193272016-12-01T08:48:10Z2016-12-01T08:48:10ZAditya Pandya
Education is given to children so that they can lead good, complete lives tomorrow. The purpose of art education is no different. Art must be taught in schools to help nurture a child's natural senses so that they understand the world better and therefore live their lives better.]]>Aditya Pandya

A child’s education must nurture capacities that make up facets of a full, rich human experience – and art education must do no less. What art can bring to education is the ability to intensely inhabit one’s body and one’s environment, to use the senses and foster a lively and honest connection with the world. Clearly, art education is not supplementary to the educational endeavour but integral to it.

The purpose of art education at the school level is not to make artists of students, nor is it primarily to train students in particular skills. Of course, much has been written about how art classes help improve hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, or spatial understanding. Depending on the specifics of the art education curriculum, it can and will develop various skills that help students learn other subjects. But what is it that gives art education its deeper more fundamental value? What makes it more than a set of auxiliary activities scaffolding the learning of other subjects? Why does a neglected art education translate to a neglected education?

The answer may lie in looking more closely at the ‘art’ in art education. We might bravely venture to ask: What is art? But E.H. Gombrich in his classic, The Story of Art writes, ‘There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists.’ This sounds, at best, counter-intuitive – if art does not exist, isn’t the idea of the artist meaningless? But it isn’t. An artist is not a creator of art the way a baker is a maker of bread. This is partly because it is not nearly as easy to say whether or not something is art, as it is to know a loaf of bread. Art is simply what an artist does – it is the result of being an artist.

Who, then, is an artist? An artist is concerned with truth and beauty, with originality and relatedness. Being an artist means responding to life and to the world in a way that is not utilitarian. An artist is usually someone who feels compelled to live their life exploring an intangible connection between themselves and the world – and they spend most of their time attempting to give a voice to this pursuit. But the voice they find is not as important as the nature of the pursuit. One may paint a picture, sing a song, or grow a garden, but it is in the vision and the process that the art lies.

The author is an artist and designer. He was involved in founding Shibumi, an alternative education centre in Bangalore, where he taught for about four years. His love for learning has also led him through carpentry apprenticeships and studio assistantships with artists. He can be reached at to.aditya.p@gmail.com.

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193302016-12-01T08:47:14Z2016-12-01T08:47:14ZPrakash Iyer
Why should art be taught in schools? Obviously not every student becomes an artist. There is a limit to using arts to teach other subjects. And as for the attitudes and ways of thinking that art develops, there are other ways too to enhance human values. So why teach art? Art helps all of us, even the non-artists, appreciate beauty and express emotions when we find words limiting. And that is an important thing to learn in today's world.]]>Prakash Iyer

In considering any aim of education or any item in the curriculum, we inevitably face the usefulness question – what use is science, history, mathematics, art? When we talk about anything, particularly knowledge, in terms of its use, we reduce it to something less than it is. When we think of mathematics in terms of its utility, we think only of arithmetic and geometry that we use in practical situations, not mathematics. We consider history useful because we need to know our past and how we came to be what we are. But this description reduces history to an investigation into the formation of identity.

With art, there is an additional problem beyond reduction; art seems less useful than other subjects. To avoid confronting this, we usually use the phrase “art for art’s sake”. But this phrase does nothing to capture the importance of art, rather it hints at an acknowledgement that art is less important because it is not useful enough. It might be helpful to do the opposite and analyze the uses of art to understand if there is value in art beyond utility. A cursory analysis of the practice of art education unearths three kinds of responses to the usefulness question.

Developing artists
Art education is important to groom artists. Education ought to help some of us realize the potential and develop the ability to create objects of art (paintings, sculptures, singing, dancing, stand-up comedy or any other form). Art education from this perspective acquires a process oriented approach – teaching children to create works of art and develop expertise in an art form. For a select few, art education furthers the possibility of developing a career. Prima facie there is nothing wrong in this view to art. But what about the many of us who do not have a talent to create something artistically valuable? Is art education useless for us?

Art as means to other ends
Another response to the usefulness question takes care of this problem. Art develops creativity, empathy, critical thinking and many other attitudes and dispositions that all humans ought to have. Art helps us develop abilities to think beyond the obvious, helps us imagine alternative views to the world, makes us experiment with the form of things. Art from other cultures helps us understand diversity and empathize with the other. Even if all of us do not create good art, working on it and learning to appreciate art, develops capabilities that are important and useful in life.

But these abilities are important in themselves irrespective of whether it is art or something else that helps us develop them. Mathematics, science, running a business, dealing with relationships, engaging with social issues, all demand creativity, empathy, and imagination. If the inculcation of these general values is the actual aim, art becomes a mere tool to achieve these larger aims of education.

Is that a problem? Probably not. But art is being relegated to being a means for something else. It is possible that these capabilities can be taught through other methods. We could use science or mathematics to teach imagination, social studies to develop empathy for people different from us, moral philosophy to understand moral values. Why art then?

The author teaches Philosophy of Education in Azim Premji University and he is a trustee with maraa – a media and arts collective based out of Bangalore. He can be reached at prakash.iyer@apu.edu.in.

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193332016-12-01T08:46:13Z2016-12-01T08:46:13ZLakshmi Karunakaran
Government school teachers in Karnataka are being given a fillip in their teaching careers. India Foundation for the Arts, an organization set up for the promotion of education in the arts in India, is training these teachers in good teaching practices using the arts, thereby opening up more and more teachers to the idea of using art to teach. ]]>Lakshmi Karunakaran

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learnt in school.– Albert Einstein

It’s every educator’s quest to make education relevant and meaningful. However, the challenge of a rigid curriculum based system and the threat of information overload looms not only over our students, but also our educators. A significant disadvantage of the curriculum-based approach in education is its tedious uniformity. It fails to cater to the diverse needs of the children within the classroom and is either far removed from their immediate environment and socio-economical reality or its relevance and impact on the students is left unexplored. Arts education is becoming a medium to bridge this gap and is helping educators bring relevance and immediacy to the lessons they teach.

“Our school books have nothing in them that reflect our environment and everyday context of life,” says Ms. Arundhati Ghosh, Director of India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), a national, not-for-profit, grant making organization that supports practice, research, and education in the arts in India. ‘Arts education enables students to understand who they are, where they come from and what relationship they have with the world around them. It also helps them ask questions and challenge their lived experiences – make them not good citizens but critical citizens of this democracy.’

IFA’s Arts Education programme is one of their oldest grant making programmes, and probably the only one in the country that offers grants to government school teachers. In its initial years, the program made a series of wide-ranging grants on a national scale to artists seeking to promote arts in classrooms. However, by 2008 the program was revised to place the ‘school teacher’ at the centre of the program.

Ms. Ghosh reflects on this decision, “It was felt that teachers are key change makers in the school system. They are the pivots. Ask anyone who has been the greatest influence in their lives, or who has inspired them and the name of some teacher in their lives many years ago will emerge. Teachers are the door openers of our minds in so many ways. Thus we felt that if we were to make arts education work, we must focus on the teacher – with training and grants. We need to equip them to do what they do best – make learning a journey full of the joy of curiosity.”

This thought led to the birth of the Kali-Kalisu program, a pilot project that showcases good practices and the larger possibilities for arts education within the schooling system in Karnataka. Over the last five years, the programme has focused its energies and resources on arts-based training for teachers from government schools and has been enabling interesting work to enhance project ideas at grassroots level. “Arts education fosters an understanding of the self and the other by collective experiences of making art. Especially in government schools that lack infrastructure, facilities, teachers and all other amenities, arts education can provide a semblance of spirited explorations into learning,” adds Ms. Ghosh.

Apart from the grant, IFA conducts Master Resource Persons (MRP) training programmes across the state, covering 17 districts in South Karnataka and 17 in North Karnataka. “One of the main objectives of the program is to focus on local themes, folk art, and culture,” says Mr. Krishna Murthy, Program Manager of the Arts Education Program. “Interaction with their local community and the challenges the community is facing is another important aspect,” he adds.

Mr. Mallesha M, a grantee from Kalghatki, Dharward Dist, used the arts to create awareness about the social and cultural issues that surround the school and the community, with a particular emphasis on female absenteeism and child marriage. “While I worked with the children, I realized that it was important to get parents on board. In the previous years, we would go door to door and talk to the parents. We changed that. We brought all the parents to a common place. Through the grant and with the children in the lead, we started an awareness program in the village,” says Mr.Mallesha. He organized his students into a variety of art clubs, such as literature, drama, and cinema, and steered them towards gathering knowledge and information about school-related issues with the help of external resources. This was followed by the clubs working independently and with each other to shape art-based interventions, such as creating a script and staging a play, or screening a film, to directly engaging with the larger community through an arts camp.

Mr. Sadanand Byandoor, a teacher from Government High School, Kundapur, Udupi has been a recipient of the Kali Kalisu Master Resource Persons Training in 2010. Through the grant he took up poetry and through innovative modes, made studying poetry an experiential and sensory engagement that brings alive the essence and spirit of poetry. “I was always interested in working with children on poetry, but we government school teachers find very little financial support for such interests. This grant helped me realize this project.” In addition to the poems in the textbooks in Kannada, Hindi, and English which students have to learn, Mr. Byandoor drew up another list of poems in Kannada from across the years to give students exposure to the wide variety of and rich language traditions in Kannada. “We spent hours after school reading and discussing poetry. Initially, I realized that the children couldn’t connect or relate to many of these poems. The language was dense, the contexts were different. I then started to break them down into simple stories, connecting them to local happenings and characters that they could relate to. Soon, things changed,” says Mr. Byandoor.

He invited poets, writers, singers, and theatre artists to conduct workshops on discussing, reading, and performing poetry in ways never done before in the school. “I am not sure how much poetry my students will practice in the future, or how many of them would become poets themselves or retain interest in poetry. But one thing is for sure, they have learnt to ask questions. They have learnt to think about what they read, and that skill, hopefully, is for a lifetime.”

The challenges are many. “One of the biggest challenges is in the mindset of most educators, who see art as ‘extra-curricular’, as something that is threatening to ‘real’ education. Reaching out to government school teachers, especially the rural areas is no mean task. That is why the trainings conducted in the various districts are important. During the trainings we sensitize teachers to this approach to teaching and learning and the resources that are available to them to take it further,” says Mr. Murthy. The lack of infrastructure and support is another ongoing challenge.

What after the grant period is over? Do the teachers continue the practice? Ms. Ghosh says, “The challenge is as always sustainability of the work that these brilliant teachers do. How do we ensure more support from governments? How can their work influence and transform the archaic ways of pedagogy of our schools? How do we ensure that arts education plays a role in the training of teachers? I am reminded of the famous Pink Flyod song here – how do we ensure that arts education frees us from creating another brick in the wall through our education systems?”

Though the challenges are many, the applications for the grant have been steadily growing. “What amazes me is that with such limited resources teachers can transform learning and with that the lives of thousands of students. Their passion and commitment to their vocation will inspire even the most cynical. That understanding and learning about arts and cultural practices around us, in our communities, in our quotidian environment can be so enriching. That in the stories of our grandmothers and the songs of our ancestors, in our work fables and the ritual decorations of our homes, in our languages and our diverse cuisines – lay bodies of knowledge that can equip us to imagine our futures. That through arts education we learn to ask questions about our present lives, social injustices, economic instabilities and political motives. That through arts education we gain a sense of who we are, what our values are, the kind of lives we intend to live. We have also discovered that it’s a junoon once you get into the journey – there is no stopping,” says Ms. Ghosh.

Clearly, there is a need to take on board the fact that despite all hurdles there are government school teachers who are committed to their work, and want to enrich the lives of children that they work with. And that they are in need of support and guidance.

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193392016-12-01T08:45:23Z2016-12-01T08:45:23ZRamya Sriram
Which child doesn't enjoy cartoons? One or the other has caught every child's fascination. So let's make the most of the idea and laugh our way into learning.]]>Ramya Sriram

“Draw me a lion,” I said to a group of young people during a workshop a couple of years ago. The variety of lions that emerged was dazzling – there were happy lions, angry lions, peaceful lions, and napping lions. It made me realize that everyone observes, processes, and expresses differently, and that’s what makes each of us unique.

I read many comic books and comic strips as a kid, which I’d like to believe helped me become a good storyteller.

Encouraging children to develop a strong visual language and vocabulary early on helps improve their creative thinking abilities. For most of us, pictures stick in our heads in a way that text doesn’t. Comic characters, in particular, have always had a strong influence on kids. They break the boundaries of human limitations that reality brings. We have absolutely no trouble in accepting that Superman can fly or that Spider-Man can cling to vertical walls. We know that anything can happen in a cartoon.

Cartoons/comics can also be used to educate as much as they are used to entertain (exemplified by characters such as Dora the Explorer). Within a school environment, cartoons can be used:

as icebreakers to introduce tough topics to students

to add some element of humour to otherwise dry subjects

to break down complex information into simple visuals

to grab the attention of children

to trigger discussion and stimulate debates

to improve observation and grasping power

to help children overcome the fear of self-expression by encouraging them to draw

Here are some simple ways cartoons and comics can be used for learning as well as teaching.

Get the kids to draw
In the popular book The Little Prince, the protagonist draws the picture of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant and shows it to the ‘grown-ups’ excitedly. The adults take one look and dismiss the drawing as a hat. These are exactly the kind of adults we don’t want to be. We want to be able to allow children to come up with their own interpretations, stories, and answers.

The very first step to using art in education is to encourage children to draw. There is a certain freedom a blank piece of paper gives a child that standing in front of a class doesn’t.

For younger grades, give the class a broad theme – for example, the jungle. Kids love drawing animals, and when they draw, they stop and think about what they’re drawing – its size, shape, and colour. Once they’re done, discuss each animal in detail – its habitat, the way it has adapted and evolved, the threats it faces, and ways in which we can protect it.

Another drawing exercise is to take the kids to an open place where they can sit and draw what they see around them. Give them an hour to observe and translate what they see, smell, and hear onto paper. This improves the child’s observation powers and also arouses her/his curiosity. After the exercise, ask each one of them to talk about what they’ve drawn. Be prepared, you’re in for surprises!

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193442016-12-01T08:44:36Z2016-12-01T08:44:36ZMatthew Baganz
The multiple intelligence theory is quite a popular theory but perhaps not always a practical one. How should a teacher with 60 children in class cater to each student's intelligence and finish teaching her subject? The answer might lie in a film making project.]]>Matthew Baganz

Providing for all multiple intelligences in a classroom can be an extraordinary endeavour. A lesson for 20 students may require 40 different teaching strategies to be considered truly best practice. Howard Gardner explains that “all individuals harbour numerous internal representations in their minds,” referring to the eight multiple intelligences which are organized in a structure with hierarchical and systematic implications. One student considered a “musical” learner may grasp multiplication best by singing notes descending in scale as number facts become larger. That same student, however, may become lost in a song about states of matter because when it comes to physics, her mind prefers to ‘speak’ in a bodily-kinesthetic “intellectual language” (Gardner 70) when negotiating such concepts, so she rather needs to run around impersonating a molecule in a liquid and slow to a crawl as she ‘freezes’ into a solid. There is certainly no adequate one-size-fits-all pedagogical approach to any lesson, and there may not even be a one-size-fits-one.

“If one wants to educate for genuine understanding, then, it is important to identify these early representations, appreciate their power, and confront them directly and repeatedly” (Gardner 71). Classroom filmmaking is a practical, user-friendly approach to incorporating all multiple intelligences within the parameters of a single project. The filming experience offers opportunities for students to accommodate the diversity of their cognitive capacities through various roles and responsibilities. Students may be assigned to parts that cater to their preferred mental processers, or teachers might allow students to select their own duties, perhaps revealing their true dominant intelligences naturally. Supported by pedagogical theory and exemplary of experiential learning, classroom filmmaking is an engaging and effective venture where all students are included and inspired to achieve their highest potentials.

Relevance to education frameworks
The multiple intelligence-laden filmmaking experience finds its place in India’s National Curriculum Framework (2005) in multiple areas. Under section 4.6.3 Educational Technology (ET), the framework states that ET “must treat the majority of teachers and children not merely as consumers but also as active producers.” Students should not only be passively watching films, but actively creating them. It continues to state that “such experiences… could include something as simple as the audio-recording of an interview with a village elder, to making a video film or video game. Providing children more direct access to multimedia equipment and Information Communication Technology (ICT), and allowing them to mix and make their own productions and to present their own experience, could provide them with new opportunities to explore their own creative imagination” (92).

In their article, “Multimedia and Multiple Intelligences,” Veenema and Gardner suggest “the ‘opening up’ of the educational process to the widest spectrum of children, especially those who do not stand out in the traditional canonical intelligences of language and logic” (71). The National Curriculum Framework supports this in its Policy of Inclusion (section 4.3.2), where it states that “opportunities need to be given to all children and their specific abilities need to be recognized and appreciated…. When planning, therefore, teachers must pay special attention to ensuring the participation of all” (85).

Some suggestions under the Major Shifts in Teacher Education (section 5.2.3) include switching “from teacher direction and decisions to learner autonomy… passive reception in learning to active participation in learning… [and] knowledge as ‘given’ and fixed to knowledge as it evolves and is created” (110) – all benefits of a student-led filmmaking project.

The author holds a Master’s degree in Multicultural Education and is the PYP 5 Classroom Teacher and PYP Maths Coordinator at Strothoff International School in Dreieich, Germany. He can be reached at matthewbaganz@gmail.com.

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193472016-12-01T08:43:40Z2016-12-01T08:43:40ZJane Sahi
Why is art always seen as an "extra" curricular activity in school? Art can and should become an integral part of the learning system. From her 40 years of using art as a medium of teaching, the author tells readers how art can be integrated into everyday schooling.]]>Jane Sahi

In the school where I have worked for a number of years we have tried to integrate art in some form in the different subjects so that art is not just a special lesson unconnected with other forms of learning and doing. From ancient times art has included not just the visual arts of painting and drawing; in the Shilpa Sastras 64 art forms are listed, including the performing arts of music, drama and dance, the arts of conversation, jugglery, cooking, weaving and stitching, riddle making, playing with toys and poetry. Carpentry work, gardening and the arts of healing are also mentioned.

Learning through artistic activities opens us to learning through a physical engagement with materials such as clay, paint, thread, paper, involving our various senses. It also fosters an imaginative, playful, and explorative participation in learning about the world. This is true of all subjects whether language, math, environmental studies, science, or history and geography.

Howard Gardner discusses how we have multiple intelligences but in the school context the logical-mathematical intelligence is given a disproportionate importance. He suggests that we should also value, for example, visual-spatial intelligence, musical intelligence and bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence. Gardner argues that all these other aspects of intelligence need to be fostered.

Drawn into words
We tend to think of language as something only verbal but visual language is also a vital tool for thought. The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky writes about how make-believe play, talking, drawing, and writing are part of a unified process. He suggests that visual language is complementary to the written word and that image-making is one vital way that all human beings can express themselves and make and share meaning of their experiences.

One example of how word and image can be brought together is to encourage young children to keep a diary by drawing pictures of their experiences and noting things that are of particular interest to them. The diary may include dramatic events like an excursion, a wedding, or a time of sickness but it may also focus on seemingly small everyday happenings such as the making of a den, playing a game, or the observation of a bird.

Initially, the child may just name some things in his or her picture to describe the different elements such as ‘playing ball’, ‘bus going’ or ‘elephant, sun, bath’. Gradually, the child may elaborate further and give more detailed descriptions. The child may not use full sentences or standard forms of language but the words will be the child’s own and said in the way that is familiar to the child and the picture will reflect the child’s direct experience. In this way children can generate their own texts for reading and communicating with others. The way a child shifts from random pictures to relating the different elements in a more coherent manner often indicates the beginning of storytelling.

Learning to write can be a very mechanical and stressful experience for children if there is too much emphasis too early on the reproduction of correct and perfect forms. If children are given the space and time to explore their own markings whether with a stick on sand or with pencil, crayon, chalk, or charcoal then they will often quite effortlessly begin to sort and sift the differences between picture and word, random pattern and letter, sound and visual symbol.

In Chinese we see very explicitly the link between the visual symbol and the meaning of the spoken word. Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese writing are often done with a brush and the form of the letters has a flow and a texture which have a pictorial element. In many languages letters have been “illuminated” to heighten the aesthetic quality of the written word. It is interesting to note that Rabindranath Tagore’s drawings often came out of doodling round a written text which he imaginatively elaborated on to create a unity between word and image.

The link between a child’s first spontaneous scribbles and writing can be encouraged so that children can begin to develop a playfulness and inventiveness with the rhythm of repetitive visual patterns. Before children begin to formally write they can explore the possibilities of pattern making with chalk, paint, or crayon. This can later lead to decorative writing in designing a book cover or making their own “illuminated” manuscripts. A variety of books in different shapes, sizes, and styles can be made and children can be encouraged to design and illustrate them.

Decoration is one element of visual representation but drawing also provides a tool for expression. Drawing, using a range of media and techniques, gives the opportunity to experiment and play with new ideas and feelings. Pencils, pens, charcoal, and crayons each have a different quality and lend themselves to different forms from comic strips to colourful scrolls.

A text can come alive if, for example, children are each asked to illustrate one particular scene or character of a story that they found memorable. Children’s own individual stories, or collaborative stories, or the re-telling of a familiar story, or a collection of favourite poems can be shared through both words and images. Drama, role play, clay work, and puppetry are other entry points to a narrative that the child has herself evolved. It is sometimes helpful for children to build up a word picture before they begin so that their images become more personal and connected to experience.

Even a subject like grammar can be made more enjoyable and memorable by using artistic activities. For example, in second language learning a book of adjectives could be made where children characterize the word through the letters of the words themselves.

Playing with the sounds and meaning of words through songs, poems, tongue-twisters, rhymes or riddles offers an experience of language that is more than simply functional. This playful aspect of language usage can be humorous, creative and very satisfying to children and adults alike. Here, repetition often has an intrinsic worth and gives shared delight to both speaker and listener.

These early experiences of the arts become foundational to developing an artistic sense as children mature. Gesture and make-believe play become the basis for dance and drama; a child’s first visual markings and explorations into line, texture, shape, and colour can become the basis for the arts of drawing, painting, writing, and sculpture. The rhythm and intonation of the spoken word is linked to music and song.

Designs, patterns, and numbers
Maths for young children does not have to be dry, abstract, and decontextualized. Even very young children can make designs from natural materials and in doing so effortlessly learn about numbers. Children can make garlands from petals, pods, leaves, and twigs and think about making patterns by paying attention to number, shape, colour, and size.

Activities with construction materials can also provide a more open-ended and creative approach to learning about science and math in an integrated and imaginative way. For example, many children enjoy making constructions with wooden blocks and given space and time will create all kinds of scenes and stories round their structures of towers, zoos, palaces, temples, or forts. This brings together not only symbolic and dramatic play but provides an exploration into the ideas of balance, stability and the limitations, and possibilities of different materials and shapes. How high can a tower be built? How can you make a tower less wobbly? Can a lever be made that will dramatically topple the whole structure? Which shapes make a wall more stable?

The essence of maths is concerned with relationships and patterns and children can be inspired to create designs in a variety of ways such as mandalas with natural materials, collages with waste materials and weaving with paper, thread, or fibres. Simple printing techniques using paint, ink, and crayon offer further possibilities. Young children often create harmonious patterns quite unselfconsciously and intuitively. Gradually children can be introduced in a more focused way to ideas of symmetry and tessellation and can look at the environment to see such patterns in nature, in built structures and artefacts. Traditional designs in weaving can provide a rich source of ideas. The rich Islamic tradition of complex geometric patterns and the ‘kolam’ designs of South India can also be an inspiration for children to explore.

Making three dimensional shapes either using nets or through techniques of origami will help children in a holistic way to grasp the nature of angles, faces, and edges of solid shapes.

Connecting through craft
A key aspect of Gandhi’s concept of Basic Education was correlation, whereby theory and practice are firmly welded together. Gandhi proposed that crafts should be linked to different aspects of learning. For example, needlework, woodwork, book-making provide children with the practical application of measurement and design and practice in the use of various tools. Such activities have a built-in discipline that is needed for making something with care and thought. Cooking and gardening are everyday activities that quite naturally help children to look at how things change or grow and indirectly provide a practical basis to understand elements of the life sciences, chemistry, and economics.

Although there are many aspects of drawing, we usually associate the visual arts with expression and emotion. Yet, drawing can also be a way of looking closely at the natural and human-made environment in a precise and analytical way. Such observational drawing can help children to be aware of details whether it is sketching a particular tree, recording an experiment, representing a building or drawing the parts of a cycle. Such drawings could be both from life or an arrangement of objects to form a ‘still life’. Drawing from life can take many forms and might include asking children to pose for each other to capture movement and action in a quick sketch.

Quite often words are inadequate to describe a process but a drawing can capture different perspectives and dimensions. For instance, map making is one way of representing the world. Initially, children could be asked to draw a pictorial map as though from an aerial view of the way from home to school. This would mean including pictures of the things they see and arranging them to convey direction and distance. This would prepare children for the more complex and abstract task of map making.

As children move form learning about the immediate environment and begin to study about less familiar places and times through geography and history, craft and artistic activities can enrich their learning by imaginatively entering into other cultures and climatic regions. Such projects include making clay models of the seals of Mohenjo-Daro, painting a volcano or exploring flight through the construction of gliders and kites can give a practical and well-informed sense of other ways of living and experience.

Technology has added new and significant ways to explore the world but this should not be a substitute for handiwork that require the touching, manipulating, and investigating of physical materials. The virtual world of computer generated drawings and effects has its own discipline and meaning but they are qualitatively different from the sensual, physical interaction which handling ‘stuff’ demands.

Artistic activities in the school context are not a luxury or mere entertainment but are an integral part of learning, exploring, and communicating. Sometimes teachers think that art is just for the talented few or alternatively an option for children who are less academically able, but artistic activities can provide tools for thought to help us amongst other things to express feelings, experiment with ideas, analyze and process our observations, communicate more effectively and perhaps most importantly connect more closely with people and things around us.

The author has been working in an alternative school for the last 40 years. She has authored a number of books related to language teaching and art education and has worked part time at TISS Mumbai and APU Bengaluru. She can be reached at janehelensahi@gmail.com.

]]>0kumarhttp://www.teacherplus.orghttp://www.teacherplus.org/?p=193562016-12-01T08:42:51Z2016-12-01T08:42:51ZMadhulika Sagaram
Using the arts as a teaching-learning approach. Fascinating, isn't it? But not practical you say? See how arts can become the medium of teaching the more "regular" subjects in school.]]>Madhulika Sagaram

Arts based learning as an approach has been used in many areas of education whether they are informal or formal learning environments. While, informal learning environments like hospitals, recovery centers, special education centers have used it for a long time, the approach has great potential for conventional or formal learning environments like schools as well.

Arts have always been put into the category of co-curricular and extracurricular activities with preferential treatment given to core subjects. When art is taught only like a subject without integration and complementarity with other disciplines, its potential and reach is greatly minimized. Arts are not just visual and performance oriented achievements; they enable the learner to make connections to lived experience. Various aspects of life including social, psychological, and emotional realms of learning can be easily expressed as well as understood using the arts. It is imperative that a shift from looking at art as a subject is replaced by a movement towards ‘arts as a teaching approach’. Such an approach will allow for revisiting concepts at different times in different ways. This facilitates the movement from rote learning to critical thinking and creativity; thus, enabling teachers as well as students to reach their potential.

Arts based learning and teaching
All subjects including mathematics, general combined science, and social studies can be taught in unique perspectives using arts based learning. Children are encouraged to express their thoughts and opinions through arts and performances apart from written work. Learning through arts is based on interpreting lived experience, through the child’s creativity, passion and in development of ethics and life skills through service and lifelong learning. The approach could be strongly steeped in local culture, craft, and art forms which are skill based, familiar, and have emotional relevance to the child in her immediate environment.

The connection of the lived experience to themes, concepts, or issues at the intersection of various subjects provides an opportunity for growth. Arts based learning as a teaching approach is designed to provide students with opportunities to use experiential learning as a strategy in real life situations and in their own communities. This enhances learning beyond the classroom and into the community and thus augments or fosters the development of a sense of empathy for others.

As a result of the synergy created, students and teachers are both involved in solving real world problems, teaching and learning as knowledge creators instead of just being consumers. Arts based learning has been used to engage students so that they have the ability to understand and be aware of their capabilities and capacities and are able to readily use them.

Arts based learning and cognition
Cognition is one of the natural outcomes in this kind of approach as a result of the knowledge construction. The teachers need to be oriented in such a way that they allow children to empower themselves, make their own decisions and enable them to develop an understanding of the importance of relating feeling and thinking with action.

However, it is important to note that art involves personal and impersonal expression; personal impression as evident in western perspectives and impersonal expression as evident in eastern perspectives. While western schools of thought entrenched in human psychology and psychoanalysis have used arts based learning as a means for personal expression, traditional Indian schools of thought have always used arts and arts based learning as a representation of observation of life and lived experiences. Both perspectives can be used in learning environments and classrooms based on required contextualization.

Language proficiency
Arts based learning can become a medium of expression when working with language literacy and proficiency development. Proficiency in language development is related to the production of sound and placement of words. While production of sound is related to movement of jaw, placement of words is based on the emotional development of the learner. Generally, the focus of language proficiency programs is on the development of vocabulary along with grammar. However, no matter how many words a learner knows and remembers, he/she cannot utilize the knowhow if expression is lacking. Usually, individuals who have a natural ability to learn languages have the ability to develop expression in that language. Such expression can also be easily developed using arts based learning with learners of any age.

In mathematics
Origami is an extremely relevant and effective art form to facilitate learning in mathematics; all of geometry can be taught using origami. Likewise, Indian tribal art forms, western and modern art can be used at all levels of learning and with all age groups. Mathematics is extremely musical and all string and percussion instruments fit very well in the paradigm of using music to learn mathematics. Craft forms such as paper bead making, jewellery making, art forms such as Warli, Bhil, Gond, Patachitra, etc., can be great resources to facilitate various aspects of numerical literacy for kindergarten as well as primary years. Traditional art forms such as rangoli, muggu, or kolam are also fantastic ways of learning mathematics. Also, something as mundane as the art of stringing flowers using thread and fingers can be used to facilitate mathematics. When the teacher is able to help the learner form connections between mundane activities and life processes, mathematics invariably comes into play along with interaction with the sciences.

The sciences
Arts based learning and sciences form a compelling case for facilitating learning about life and life processes. The connection between arts and sciences comes to life through an understanding of aesthetics and the facilitation of the learning environment. All life processes can be studied through life sciences to include biology, chemistry, and physics or applied sciences such as agriculture, nutrition, forestry, geology, biochemistry, etc. While life processes can be studied through life and applied sciences, human behaviour and its influence upon life processes can be facilitated through social sciences.

Arts based learning can play an important role at various levels, it can be the tool that can facilitate conceptualization of abstract concepts. For e.g.,theatre and props can be used to enact a plant cell and an animal cell along with storytelling and making an artefact of the cells using everyday materials and trinkets. Science education and arts based learning together form a formidable combination that can engage the learner and anchor learning as an integral part of life processes. Concepts that are confusing or hazy become crystal clear when arts based learning is used in conjunction to life and applied sciences.

Arts based learning is also a potent approach to facilitate social sciences, subjects such as geography, history can be easily connected to mathematics or language literacy in an effortless manner. Arts such as theatre, dance, music, and craft forms such as puppetry, traditional storytelling forms like harikatha or burrakatha (from the southern region) and Chhau (from the eastern region), among others, are effective forms of connecting social studies and arts. Several other disciplines like mathematics, science, language can be looped into the concoction of arts and social sciences using various art and craft forms. Pottery, sculpture, collage, and mixed media art are fantastic art and craft forms to interconnect various disciplines together.

Arts based learning as an educational approach highlights the interconnectedness of all disciplines and helps the teacher and learner overcome the barriers of fragmentation of knowledge in modern society. When learners understand that all subjects and disciplines are merely paths to reach the same place in the process of life, they are empowered to delve into life processes to identify their channels of passion and identify their leaning in life and their own potential. Also, noteworthy to consider will be the paradigms of western vs traditional art forms. Art in the western perspective is based on personal expression and can lead to the fragmentation that is already evident in modern education. However, traditional art and craft forms across the world are extremely holistic, integrated with life and its processes and in tune with nature. For e.g.,traditional tribal art forms such as Warli, Bhil, or Gond are observations of daily life and the beauty that exists within such contextualization and learning; such aspects are missed out in the modern and western perspectives of art as in painting where personal expression takes precedence over alignment with life.

The teacher will have to choose the type of art form and the leaning based on the goal of the engagement involved whether it is classroom based or an outdoor activity. Nevertheless, arts based learning can be a very effective approach to construct lifelong learning perspectives.

Thus, arts based learning as an approach and pedagogy can connect a continuum of disciplines at the subject or concept or thematic level to make all learning visible to the learner and teacher.

Bommala Koluvu as an artifact for impersonal expression of art

Bommala Koluvu (Telugu), Bombe Habba (Kannada), Bommai Golu (Tamil), Bomma Gullu (Malyalam) is a doll and figurine CULTURAL display found all across South India during Dusshera, Diwali or Pongal based on cultural practice. The practice of making dolls, recreating stories from books and folk lore, lived experiences along with development of fine, gross motor skills and cultural understanding in children is a characteristic feature of Bommala Koluvu. This feature is a description of a Bommala Koluvu called ‘Gardens of the World’ done by ABCD Home School for Diwali 2016.

The children engaged in the Bommala Koluvu made connections between environmental science, ecology, mathematics, geography, global culture in the process of creating it. The miniature gardens and vistas provided an avenue to recreate an understanding of cultural preferences, norms, and varied ways of life. A great deal of measurement was involved in terms of space allocation, quantity of materials, including sand, sawdust, pebbles, etc. Quality parameters learned included grading of materials to match suitability of landscape being created. Alignment, sequences and patterns were involved across disciplines such as mathematics, science, ecology, and global culture. Children engaged with natural materials such as sand, rocks, various types of soil, plants suitable for different geo-ecological areas across the world, etc. They also developed an understanding of plant ecology, anatomy and physiology, all aligned with other disciplines.

Impersonal expression of art has been a prominent thread in processes of learning in India since ages. Bommala Koluvu was one such opportunity for community involvement, sharing of knowledge being passed from generation to generation, oral cultural traditions and assessment of knowledge construction. Children along with adults in their extended family and friends participated in recreating themes and concepts from puranas, folk lore and family traditions. The adults that co-collaborated with them and those that would visit to engage with the Bommala Koluvu would further add their interpretation and understanding to the child’s creation providing feedback or repositioning transfer points of learning. The children would restructure their story or understanding to improve the showcase the following year.

Bommala Koluvu was thus not just a cultural display but also one showcasing the understanding of the process of life through observation, interpretation and restructuring one’s perspective. The artistic aspects of the exhibit were never based on personal expressions but on replication of observation of life around. This characteristic feature is found in all traditional craft and art forms in India. The person or people engaged in creating art mimicked life rather than using psychological and imaginary constructs. Knowledge construction was based on internalized life processes and a deep understanding of social life in the community.

In the creation of the exhibit described, children visited different gardens across Hyderabad including a Japanese Garden, French garden, lotus pond, English garden, farm garden, ashram, and a rustic temple to develop an understanding of life in various conditions and environments. The children observed natural processes and life in each environment and thus could recreate their understanding of the same.

The author is the founder of Adhya Educational Society and Ajahn Center for Pedagogy. She is also the Director at ABCD Home School and actively involved in innovation in pedagogy and curriculum. She is a researcher, teacher, facilitator, artist, and development worker. She can be reached at madhusagaram@gmail.com.